proof

that we have a backyard! these two especially love to play out there. and here is a view of the cute little house.

no one will ever find me here

there's a gap below the kitchen counter and next to the dishwasher where the Riceball likes to hide when he is plotting some mischief.

catching up

if the blog's been quiet it's because we were busy enjoying a visit from good friends for four days.

the kids loved the attention, having extra readers around and BR especially took advantage of the additional lap space.

And when they left the girls both cried. "i miss Kara and Leia!"

A. says...

Our refrigerator makes moaning noises sometimes. It sounds human and spooky. At dinner last night:

A.: "Mommy, there's halloween in our frigerator!"

A List

so maybe her spelling skills haven't quite caught up to her reading ones yet... L. is still determined to make to do lists. Every day. Throughout the day. Here is a small sample (there is much, much more for her to accomplish as laid out in The List ):

go to sleep wake up eat breakfast wash hands take a walk go to the zoo

go to sleep wake up eat breakfast brush my teeth go to the pumpkin patch

wash my hands take a bath dry myself put shampoo on my hair

wake up eat breakfast wash hands go to the ice cream store

this is also a list [for] when it's dark

watch fireworks look at the stars drink hot chocolate and hot soup

lie in the grass when it's dark

find a boat get a ticket to get in it

spooky house

the girls are proud to show off today's ambitious craft: a "spooky house" as they call it. we kinda think the windows look especially spooky that way...

mmm, mmm, yummy as pumpkin pie

mommy's cousin Bethany took us and all the other cousins to a pumpkin patch on Sunday. There was a straw maze and a corn maze, and a petting zoo and a hay ride. The kids (all of them!) were cute enough to gobble up.

i claim this pumpkin for the Republic of Ah-maree.

L. was really, REALLY excited about the hay ride: (holding up her hand) "See? I got my stamp, I'm READY! You need to get yours, go, GO! The driver is WAITING, he is READY for us, come on, let's go on the ride, HURRY!" And then... "Wow, this is so much fun, I am having SO MUCH FUN! This ride is so long. Wow, another bump! Tee hee hee! This is FUN!"
So that evening I was asking A. what her favorite part of the outing was and mentioned that I already knew L.'s favorite part.
L.: "The hay ride!? What!? That was SO boring. I NEVER want to do that again."
That's our A-plus Stinker.

Weekend Update

Things I have heard myself say this week, some more than once.

"No, no, please don't put yogurt in your eye."
"Don't hit your sister."
"Chapstick is not a snack."
"Don't hit your brother."
"Please don't lick that doorstop."
"Put that stick down."
"Stop eating that lightbulb."

In other news, apparently L. has taught herself to read. She's been working on it for weeks, but today it was full (though simple) sentences and short paragraphs. We were at church and she was reading out loud from a book she had sneakily brought along from home so I wasn't exactly ecstatic, but still secretly and guiltily hoping everyone around us noticed.
They didn't. So I had to brag here instead.

today I learned about dinosaurs

(her inspiration: Mo Willem's "Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct")

A. loves to pose for the camera. Especially in her new pink and yellow raincoat. She wears it round the clock, and indoors and out.

things your mother will let you do so that she can cook dinner

yes, we're pretty excited about having wood floors. no, we do not keep them immaculately clean.

it might be cold, but we love Fall

sometime soon...

we have moved into our very adorable little house (rental) and we're told that our internet line will be up and running on the 9th. hopefully I will have found the camera under the piles of rubble by then. i promise, we're still very, very adorable. way more than the house.